Burt Reynolds & Dinah Shore - Why Their Love Couldn't Last

The stars' unlikely romance was one of the most important of their lives

Burt Reynolds knew that Dinah Shore let him win at tennis and that only made him love her more.

“Dinah was a much better tennis player than me, but she would fake not being good and let me win sometimes,” Burt told Closer in 2017. “She was incredibly important to me. We were the best of friends and very close throughout her life.” Burt met the singer and actress-turned-TV host when he appeared on her first talk show, Dinah's Place, in 1970. Despite a 19-year age gap, he was instantly smitten and spontaneously invited her to spend the weekend with him in Palm Springs. Dinah, then 53 and twice divorced, declined, but they met up a little while later in Chicago. “A human relationship has nothing to do with chronology. It has to do with chemistry,” said Dinah, who felt the connection, too. “A man is a man is a man. And an attraction is an attraction.